Fill the Local News Void and Create a Profitable Business: Start TAPinto in Your Town

By TAPINTO.NET

July 12, 2017 at 10:19 AM

Many newspapers are regionalizing their coverage or being acquired by media conglomerates and laying off journalists, creating a void in local news coverage, not only in New Jersey but throughout the country.

As a result, there is less and less local coverage of your local government and board of education, high school sports, charitable events and other newsworthy local happenings, says TAPinto CEO and Publisher Michael Shapiro.

"At TAPinto we are filling the void being created in local news caused by the regionalization and downsizing of hardcopy newspapers," Shapiro said. "We provide a turn-key solution and enable people, ranging from entrepreneurial journalists and public relations professionals, to business development and marketing executives, to realtors and others who start TAPinto as a side business, to nonprofits and universities and even hardcopy newspaper publishers, to start a profitable online local newspaper business in their town."

TAPinto franchises local news sites to local owner/publishers and now has more than 65 local news sites covering more than 100 municipalities in New Jersey and New York, with more than 6 million readers during the last year.

Jonathan Jaffe, a veteran journalist and former Star-Ledger reporter who owns the public relations firm Jaffe Communications, saw an opportunity to start a quality online news site in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He hired Jack Murtha, a firecracker reporter with a graduate degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism, to oversee coverage of day-to-day news in New Brunswick and at Rutgers University, while Jaffe manages the site, coordinates other staff and serves as city publisher.

"New Brunswick and the Rutgers community have other online publications but they are more activist in nature," Jaffe said. "I wanted to develop a high-quality objective online news site that would serve all of the residents of New Brunswick and the Rutgers community. TAPinto provides the technology, backend, training, and support so we could focus on quality journalism -- breaking great stories and developing long-term investigative series, while coordinating local advertising. TAPinto handles the rest."

Jaffe noted that TAPinto continues to grow in Middlesex County, allowing for more robust news as sites freely share content across the platform.

"With my reporters teamed with TAPinto writers covering other aspects of the county, we now have a superior news organization that is second-to-none in terms of comprehensive coverage of Middlesex County," Jaffe said.

Ravenell Williams, CEO of the Plainfield YMCA, saw the lack of local news coverage in Plainfield as a detriment to the community.

"Pretty much the only time Plainfield is in the news is when there is a major disaster," Williams said. "However, the vast majority of what is going on in Plainfield is good news -- with so many Plainfielders giving back to the community and doing wonderful things. I wanted to also tell those stories and at the same time, saw an opportunity for the Plainfield YMCA to develop additional marketing opportunities. TAPinto enables a nonprofit like ours to give back to the community, better inform our residents, and create additional donated funds so that the Plainfield YMCA can do even more great things for our community."

For business entrepreneur Darlene Cullen, starting TAPinto in South Plainfield, NJ was an obvious business opportunity.

"The only news coverage in South Plainfield was a weekly print publication," Cullen said. "There is little value in old news. TAPinto creates the opportunity to provide up-to-the-minute news in my town. So I started TAPinto South Plainfield three years ago and it has already become the go-to-place for local news and information. On the business side, TAP South Plainfield is surging. TAPinto's unique model enables us to sell marketing and advertising opportunities to businesses in South Plainfield and into all of the TAPinto sites in New Jersey, which has created a significant revenue stream for my thriving business."

Jackie Lieberman, a veteran journalist, saw an opportunity in Westfield, NJ where her local hardcopy newspaper's idea of going online was to have a pdf of its newspaper available.

"People don't want to wait a week to find out what is going on in their town," Lieberman said. "Most people get their news online and in particular, on their phone and I saw that that trend would only grow. Thanks to TAPinto's system that enables us to share content within the network of TAPinto sites, I'm also able to provide important stories throughout Union County and the State of New Jersey to our readers with no work on my part because my fellow TAPinto franchisees are covering those stories in their towns."

Anyone who may have interest in helping to fill the local news void in their town can visit www.starttap.net for more information.

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TAPinto.net is a network of more than 65 all-online local newspaper franchises in New Jersey and New York with more than 6M readers. The all-online hyperlocal news sites boast more than one hundred columnists, a full-service Community Calendar, Business Directory, local Real Estate Listings and more. The public can friend TAPinto.net on Facebook at Facebook.com/tapintolocal and can follow TAPinto.net on Twitter at Twitter.com/tapintolocal

In addition, TAPinto.net is currently offering franchise opportunities in CT, MA, FL, NJ, NY, PA and beyond. Anyone interested in starting an online newspaper in their town is invited to Click here for more information.

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